Two Interesting Articles

I came across two interesting articles this morning. Both are about terrorism – the first, related to the bombings of the Egyptian resort this weekend, the second, related to the bombings in London. What’s interesting about the articles is that each provides some insight that goes beyond the usual rhetoric in examining the possible motives of the people who may have been involved in each attack.

The first article, appearing in the National Post, examines the Bedouin tribespeople who inhabit the deserts of Sinai where the bombed resort, Sharm el Sheikh, lies, on the shores of the Red Sea. Displaced from their land, deprived of their traditional rights and looked down upon by the Egypt’s city dwellers, the Bedouin communities “present ripe pickings for jihadists”, the article says.

The second article, appearing on Counterpunch and likely reprinted from The Independent, is by one of my favourite journalists, Robert Fisk, whose book Pity the Nation I have reviewed on this site. He writes about the disconnect some Muslim men living in Western countries experience between their religion and the temptations (from their religion’s perspective) they are exposed to – and sometimes succumb to:

So in Britain – and even the Muslims who were born in the country often grow up in traditional families – there can be a fierce dichotomy between their lives and that of the society around them. The freedoms of Britain – social as well as political – can be very attractive. Knowing that its elected government sends its soldiers to invade Iraq and kill quite a lot of Muslims at the same time might turn the “dichotomy” into something far more dangerous.

It’s articles like these that are necessary for us to understand the complex nature of the situation we are faced with today. It seems apparent that 9/11 was just the beginning. The Western response to that tragedy has made the situation much worse and it’s likely that we are now entering a prolonged period of violence and instability, fuelled by extremists on both sides – Bin Laden on one end of the see-saw, Bush on the other, each using the other to propel themselves to positions of influence and win the hearts of their hoped-for constituencies. The only way out will be to understand the way we got in. Articles like these help.